on our broadcast tonight, showdown here on capitol hill in washington. is it possible they're back to square one in this debt ceiling crisis? we'll show you how the speaker of the house responded when i asked him if he's got a rebellion on his hands. signs of life. what it was like during that attack in norway. a daughter's text messages to her mother while the gunman's rampage was under way. triumph and tragedy. an american at the top of his game at the olympic games and now questions about how he fell so hard, so fast to such a tragic ending. and american history. from world war i until present day, a place that has healed

america's badly wounded warriors. tonight an emotional ending for a great name. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good evening from capitol hill in washington. tonight, where this fight over the looming financial crisis goes on on two fronts, here in these corridors and across the country, on the internet, on the airwaves, while elected lawmakers, it should be said, engage in some high risk behavior. tonight here they're still talking and they're counting votes and they're deciding what this fix should look like. we're here and we have been here all day, we should tell you, because we have been allowed behind the scenes. nbc news is taking on something that has never been allowed here before. we have filled the hill with cameras and journalists all day long today for an hour long special this coming sunday

evening, showing a day in the life of this place. and while it was long scheduled, it just happened to arrive, we just happened to be here to record this epic battle, which, of course, is still going on tonight. we have been walking these corridors all day. and tonight we can show you some of what the congressional leaders told us here today. first of all, you don't look happy on the front page of "the new york times." it says, boehner's grip on his caucus is put to test in standoff. feel like you're being tested? >> it is a test. this is a big step, trying to get control of our deficit and our debt and trying to do it by the august 2nd deadline. so it is a big test. >> some people who are friends of yours have said this isn't fair. your job is to run your party. but there is another party in there too. you have this tea party caucus

that didn't come to washington with the same values. >> it is not the tea party caucus. most of the freshmen are frankly in pretty good shape. it would be more what i would describe as some hard-line conservatives who want more. i don't blame them. i want more too. but this was an agreement between the bipartisan senate leaders and myself. it is what's doable. and i think we can get there. >> mr. speaker, is it fair to say you have a bit of a rebellion on your hands? or do you feel -- >> i've got a little rebellion on my hands every day. it comes with the territory. >> you're not worried. >> never let them see you sweat. >> i'm disappointed. i care about john boehner. i think he's a good person. i'm disappointed he's painted himself into this corner. it makes our job over here much more difficult. i hope that the american people will learn pretty soon that we

are able to work our way through this. we have to do it. and i am, as i have said, you know, i'm a trial lawyer, i tried cases for a long, long time, i tried to work out arrangements so everyone was happy or unhappy, but at least finish the case. legislation is a compromise. that's who i am. >> senate majority leader harry reid and speaker of the house before that, just part of our conversations with various members of the leadership here at the capitol today. the question is, where does this standoff stand tonight? since we're here on her beat, nbc's kelly o'donnell has been with us covering this all day long and is here with an update. kelly? >> brian, there is yet another twist tonight. republican aides tell me they fixed a mistake, they sent speaker boehner's plan to raise the debt limit and reduce spending back to the drawing board. they made changes and returned it to the nonpartisan number crunchers who gave it a score. the official number now is $917 billion in cuts over 10 years. that's an improvement for republicans. but the glitch took precious little time.

a political rain delay on capitol hill. the house vote postponed on speaker boehner's plan. >> i've had kidney stones that are easier to pass than this. >> reporter: and democrats filled the time with sharp words. >> the speaker's plan is on life support and it is time for him to pull the plug. >> reporter: trying to save it, house republicans fired up their members to stick together at a meeting last night. and even played a movie clip, a violent scene from the ben affleck film "the town". >> we're going to hurt some people. >> reporter: and that got bad reviews from democrats today. >> in the scene, they chose to inspire their house freshmen, one of the crooks gives a pep talk to the other, right before they both put on hockey masks, bludgeon two men with sticks, and shoot a man in the leg. >> reporter: back in real life, boehner is up against conservative opposition, demanding deeper cuts at this tea party rally today. >> we have the boehner proposal

on the table. it will cut next year $1 billion. >> reporter: but boehner and his debt limit plan are gaining support too. >> i'd like to reiterate my very strong support for speaker boehner, the house republican leadership, and this plan to prevent default and reduce washington's spending. >> reporter: gop aides say the get in line message delivered to members and the retooling of the bill for more spending cuts appears to be winning over some needed votes. >> the members understand this puts a check on obama. it doesn't allow him a blank check that the reid bill would allow. >> i rise to urge all of my colleagues to keep an open mind on the boehner plan. >> reporter: and after all the talk, what this next hurdle is about is counting votes. so far publicly, republicans don't think they have enough of their members committed to actually pass this. and if that doesn't happen, then we're sort of back to square one with harry reid hoping to come

up with some alternative. but it is uncertain. >> exactly what we picked up today. kelly o'donnell who covers the hill for us here every day, starting us off tonight. kelly, thanks. there are two parties to this. the other would be the white house. that sends us across town to our chief white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, of course, listened to it from up here. they think they have the momentum, all of it on this side of washington. is the view the same where you are? >> reporter: the view is the same. the reality is setting in that the best the white house can hope for is that the democrats in the u.s. senate stick together and stay by harry reid, even if the boehner bill passes. clearly john boehner was rallying conservatives today, on talk radio trying to rally votes. now, tomorrow, if it passes, we're going to expect harry reid to do one of two things. he will either hurry up and introduce boehner's vote, let it get its up or down vote and get it voted down and move to his plan, or i'm told he could very well accept the boehner bill and

then start amending it and trying to get rid of what is the major sticking point, which is this idea of having another debt limit vote in six to nine months, which, of course, the white house does not want. and that's still the sticking point, how do you create this so-called trigger, brian? >> i couldn't find anybody up here willing to say they want to go back at this in a couple of months' time. chuck todd across town at the white house. chuck, thanks. and while the markets have mostly not been reflecting what's happening here in washington, today all the uncertainty did seem to start to rattle the markets. all three major indexes were down. and whether or not the u.s. does ultimately default on its debt, there's this looming threat that the nation's influential ratings agencies will downgrade the credit rating of the united states. if that happens, a lot of americans are likely to feel a

rather immediate domino effect. tyler matheson of cnbc is also here with us in washington with more on that. so, tyler, wouldn't take anything more than the threat of this happening to start feeling it. >> and the threat has already been made. the credit rating, of course, is an educated guess, a grade really by a credit rating service like standard & poor's or moody's, about how likely it is that a country will repay the principal and interest on its debt. for as long as you and i have been around, america's credit rating has been the best of them all, aaa, basically saying that america's debt is essentially risk free and it is priced as such. but the credit rating agencies are now saying that even if there is a global solution to the debt ceiling talks, that if the congress and president can't come together on a longer term fiscal stability plan, they may downgrade the debt and that will mean that the debt is riskier. what does that mean in practical terms? first, it means that borrowing costs for uncle sam, for taxpayers like you and me, are likely to go up.

by one estimate according to jpmorgan by some $100 billion a year. interest rates over the long term might go up by three quarters of a percentage point. it doesn't stop there. all interest rates basically in our system are benchmarked off the treasuries. the borrowing costs for states, for municipalities, for municipal bond issuers like school districts, water districts, universities, they would go up as well. moody's says it may be $130 billion worth of municipal bonds would lose their aaa credit rating if uncle sam loses his. and finally, consumers like you and me. because those interest rates are benchmarked against the treasury. if treasury rates go up, mortgage rates are likely to go up. consumer lending rates are likely to go up and so are rates on businesses. less borrowing, less spending, a slower economy could be the result, and higher unemployment, brian. >> as we say in washington, that's real money. it's why such a high stakes game. tyler matheson, as always, thanks. again, much more of our day

spent here behind the scenes in the primetime special sunday evening "taking the hill inside congress." that airs sunday at 7:00, 6:00 central time. and we are back for a final word from here later on in the broadcast. but for now, we want to go back up to our home studios in new york where kate snow will take us through the other news from today. kate, good evening. >> good evening, brian, thanks. there is news tonight about the deadly attacks in norway. the names of the victims have now been made public and the prime minister of norway announced a special inquiry into the tragedy to answer, among other things, major questions about whether police responded quickly enough that day. also tonight, we're getting a firsthand glimpse of the sheer terror for people trapped in that chaos with text messages between a mother and her daughter. nbc's martin fletcher reports again tonight from oslo. >> reporter: from the moment of the huge bomb blast in oslo recorded here on a shop security camera, to the gun attack at the summer camp, the self-confessed

killer anders breivik expected to be caught. he told his lawyer he was surprised to make it to the island, 40 minutes drive away, and once he started shooting the teenagers, surprised at how long it took the police to stop him. at least one hour. what that delay meant for the terrified teenagers can be seen from the text messages of one of the survivors, julie bremners, to her equally terrified mother at home in the north of norway. >> i felt really helpless, really helpless. >> reporter: friday, 5:42 in the afternoon, mary ann got the text message from hell. >> tell the police it is a maniac here. who is shooting. they have to hurry. >> reporter: five minutes later, mommy, tell the police that they must be quick. people are dying here. mother, the police know and they have had many calls. give us a sign of life every five minutes, please. julie, okay. as minutes dragged by, the killer shot the teenagers one by one.

julie, i love you, even if i still misbehave from time to time. >> then i really almost broke down because that was so moving, so touching. >> reporter: julie was hiding with friends among the rocks, shaking with fear. 6:15, julie, the police are here. mother, the person shooting is said to be in police uniform. be careful. 6:30, trying to calm her daughter, mother said, should we try to book you on the flight home tomorrow? julie, i have no time to think about that now. >> she said, mom, we are scared. scared. >> reporter: and then the call. it's over. i'm safe. >> it is almost like giving birth to her one more time. it was so emotional. >> reporter: julie's brother had no idea about any of this as it was happening, and said he found it rather odd when he got a text from his twin sister saying i love you. martin fletcher, nbc news, oslo,

norway. as the u.s. prepares to withdraw troops from afghanistan, another setback to report tonight. a suicide bombing has killed the mayor of kandahar, afghanistan's second largest city. the mayor who, by the way, was a dual afghan-u.s. citizen was killed when an assassin detonated explosives hidden in his turban as the mayor met with tribal elders. we have been reporting this week on the famine affecting millions in the horn of africa. today, a plane carrying the first airlift of urgently needed nutritional supplements landed in somalia. the shipment will be distributed to medical facilities to help starving children. when we come back, the troubled life and far too early death of an olympian we got to know in vancouver. speedy as he was, he couldn't outrun his demons. and later, closing the doors of an american institution after more than 100 years.

the games will be ready. the taxis will be ready. and all of the people of london will be ready to welcome the world's finest athletes to the greatest games that have ever been held in the greatest city on earth. >> that is london mayor boris johnson, talking about the fact that exactly one year from tonight, the world will be watching the opening ceremonies for the 2012 summer olympics. london will become the first city to host three olympic games. last one back in 1948. and the celebration has already started there. part of today's ceremonies, the first dive into the olympic pool at the city's sparkling new $442 million aquatics center. tonight, we are also remembering one of the stars of the last olympic games in vancouver. when jeret peterson grabbed the silver in freestyle skiing, he talked about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

he had been very open about his struggle with depression, seemed to have conquered that awful illness, but on monday night, his body was found in a canyon in utah, alongside a suicide note. a horrible end to a fast-paced life. the story now from nbc's natalie morales. >> reporter: it would be a challenge to find a more apt metaphor for jeret peterson's life than his signature tricks, the hurricane. an outrageous combination of three flips and five twists that seemed to defy the laws of physics and fit perfectly with his childhood nickname "speedy." >> i guess i'm just not good right side up. i have to be upside down. i like being upside down in the air. >> reporter: life on the ground for peterson proved to be difficult. >> i've had a bunch of different things happen in my life that are really negative. but that doesn't mean that i still can't be a great person. >> reporter: by all accounts, peterson was trying to be just that, which is why his arrest

last friday for driving under the influence shocked those closest to him. it seemed so uncharacteristic of the new speedy, the one that had overcome a tough childhood of abuse and loss and later problems with gambling and run-ins with police. five years ago at the torino olympics, reeling from having witnessed a friend's suicide only months earlier, an altercation at a bar sent him home from italy in disgrace. you sound like you matured in the last -- a lot more. what do you think brought on the change? >> i don't drink anymore. that was a huge one for me. i had some troubles with depression and suicide. >> reporter: troubles that did not go away easily as peterson's mother told nbc in 2009. >> sometimes doing everything isn't enough. >> reporter: more than 24 million americans deal with depression every day. >> when people with depression start to get better, that actually can be a time of greater danger for them.

>> reporter: peterson's place in the olympic family was unique. >> he had that friendship. he was willing to be everybody's friend and just really open up his heart to everybody. >> reporter: an endearing and gifted athlete, dead at the age of 29. natalie morales, nbc news, new york. when we come back, through war and peace time, achievement and scandal, closing the doors on a military institution.

a military tradition, a washington institution fades into the history books tonight as walter reed army medical center closes its doors. nbc's jim miklaszewski looks at a place that treated everyone from privates to presidents. >> reporter: for more than 100 years, walter reed has been on the front lines of military medicine, from world war i until today, caring for americans wounded in war. colonel norvell coots is the commander at walter reed. >> this has been such an important place for healing. >> reporter: it is also an invaluable piece of american history. >> we're entering the sitting room of the pershing suite. >> reporter: world war i general dr. jack pershing lived and died at walter reed. dr. john pierce says others flocked here for his military advice. >> and so two star general george s. patton came to this room, got down on his knees on this rug. >> reporter: right here? >> right here. and general pershing blessed him before he went off to war. >> reporter: president dwight

eisenhower died here in 1969. and for decades, every commander in chief has been drawn to walter reed in times of war. over the past ten years, 18,000 americans wounded in iraq and afghanistan have been treated here. critical care nurse rosemary eddinger is inspired by their spirit and determination. >> young soldiers who all they want to do is get better to get back to their troops. >> reporter: but in 2007, a scandal broke over poor housing conditions for outpatients, which ultimately led to improved care militarywide. and where do the wounded go now? the more seriously injured will be moved to a new high tech rehab center at bethesda naval hospital. and what happens to walter reed? the 113 acres here is prime real estate. the city of washington gets most of it for commercial development and housing. even a center for the homeless. but colonel coots is confident the legacy of walter reed will live on.

>> once you've been at walter reed, you can't get walter reed out of you. it is a part of your spirit. >> reporter: jim miklaszewski, nbc news, at walter reed. we're back in a moment with brian on capitol hill.

and we're back from capitol hill in washington for one final word on what we witnessed here today. it is clear the house leadership is scrambling, trying to find the numbers to make the package work, and trying to find and nail down the votes to do what they want. that's in the house where revenue bills originate. the senate, in effect, waits for them, though we should point out closed door meetings continue, trying to find a bipartisan solution. we saw at least one white house official here today. we recorded a lot of it, and, again, this was a first for any news organization. it will all air as part of an hour long special this coming sunday night at 7:00, 6:00 central "taking the hill inside congress." so for us and for tonight, that is our broadcast for this wednesday evening. for my colleague kate snow in new york and our entire team here in washington, i'm brian

williams. thank you, as always, for being here with us. we hope to see you tomorrow night from new york. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com shot while helping the homeless. the gunman who was hurt while helping a family. bag of garbage to prove a point. i'll tell you why some activists stormed the lobby of this wells fargo branch. also, in jeopardy himself. game show host alex trebek helps nab a thief at his san francisco hotel.